I'm gonna have to get up in there and check to see if there is a pedcock on the radiator of this 2001 F150

 

Ought to be. Mine is on pass side, kinda hard to see it points straight out horizontally. Best seen if you look down from the engine bay.

 

Hi Banjo ~ Haven't had time to check ~ Big Snow ~ machine and shovel ```





Richard

 

I’m sure there will be some objections, but I’m gonna suggest this anyway:



(I’m not actually mad, this is just the first chance I’ve ever had to use that emoji. )

Whatever type the owner manual states is what you should be using because that’s what Ford intended to be used in it (not specifically Motorcraft but the type). If it was a brand new truck would you disregard all the recommended fluids?

Coolant types are more about chemistry. The old green coolant (ethylene glycol) was great for cast iron blocks and steel parts, but after a few years it becomes acidic and electrolysis can easily occur. It doesn’t take much for aluminum blocks to be damaged by acidity and electrolysis (I’d have to dig around for it but Ford released a TSB once about the problems of electrolysis in coolant).

I can’t state the specific details on what each does at the moment (again I’d have to do some digging) but the use of OAT and HOAT is about prevention of damage to aluminum/aluminum alloy blocks and parts due to the problems discovered with green coolant. I think they are both an ethylene glycol base, but the overall concentration has been reduced.

If anyone would like to see it I’ll try to find the literature I have that goes into more details.

 

From my experience in maintaining a fleet and working on many vehicles, the worst enemy of any engine cooling system is using tap watet, I'm no a believer of flushing with chemicals or flushing with any tap water, using distilled water to flush out your cooling system is best for your engine. Like I posted before all I use is the multi vehicle on all our gas trucks some with over 400k. The times I've removed the water pump, whether being GM, Ford, Ram none have ever had rust, aluminum hasn't suffered from electrolysis etc.. I do 100k or 3 year coolant flushes and havent seen any rust when flushingbthe cooling system.
I have seen vehicle's with less than 100k miles that the owner used tap water and antifreeze, and rust, aluminium and metal have been either corroded or eaten away by tap water not the coolant.
Stick to the owners manual and you should be fine but DON'T USE TAP WATER!!!! not even to flush the engine block.

 

freakify ~ so you suggest: Flush with Distilled water ~ then fill with distilled water + Antifreeze ??????????????????????????






Richard

 

Also need to use coolant that is compatible with the solder used in the heater core and radiator core, in addition to the head gasket material.

 

Yes. Thats exactly the correct way of doing a coolant flush, some use RO water but its hard to come by in stores and most od the time they are priced higher than distilled.

 

Are we talking Orange Coolant ```

 

Reverse Osmosis water.

 

ORANGE COOLANT is normally what GM calls DEXCOOL.... It is basically what FORD started using in 2012 or later... On the EARLIER trucks you coolant was YELLOW... and earlier than that it was GREEN... The GREEN and YELLOW are compatable, but the YELLOW is Extended Life ........You can mix them....... just don't mix with the ORANGE.... only use ORANGE (Dexcool) in the newer ( sometime after 2012) FORDS ......... ( the year varies by model).

I use a garden hose TEE to the heater hose to FLUSH the motor.. I might run 30 gallons thru the system.. Once I think everything is CLEAN and good FLOW, I blow it out as much as possible with air... I put in 2-3 gallons of distilled water and run for 20 minutes, then drain and add 2 gallons of distilled and run again, then drain and add 2 gallons of 100% antifreeze.